Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

Addiction #31 – Freedom from RELIGION
An important preface: If you consider yourself a religious person, please understand that
this post is not an attack on your religion. Rather, it is simply a gentle exposé of the
tendency we humans have to undermine our own spiritual beliefs by becoming addicted
to the same. Whether you are a Christian or a Jew – a Muslim or a Buddhist – an atheist
or an agnostic – a “New Age spiritualist” or an “otherwise undecided”, the following
information is solely intended to deepen your appreciation of the miraculous nature of
life; and thereby serve to intensify your reverence for the wondrousness that many call
“the Divine” – or “God”.
“You cannot know God until you’ve stopped telling yourself that you already know God
… God cannot tell you the Truth until you stop telling him yours.”
~ Neale Donald Walsch
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense,
reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” ~ Galileo Galilei
“I never knew how to worship until I knew how to Love.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher
For the purpose of this discussion, a “religion” is a set of beliefs concerning the cause,
nature and purpose of the Universe. And according to this definition, as of July 2012,
over 90% of the world’s 7+ billion inhabitants identified themselves as belonging to one
religion or another*.
[*NOTE: This book considers both atheism & “New Age spirituality” to be religions.]
Of course, religion in and of itself is not a “bad” thing at all. Indeed, for many people,
religion provides a cultural framework that brings great meaning to life — giving them a
sense of purpose, encouraging them to act morally, and inspiring them to create works of
great beauty. And as long as our religion brings Peace to our own lives and to the lives of
those around us, it remains an enriching endeavor.
And yet, when our worship becomes obsessive & destructive – when it feeds the internal
shadows of hatred, greed, arrogance or fear; or when it inspires the external tragedies of
war, isolation, condemnation or aggression, then our religion has become
counterproductive. And it is in such instances that our religion begins to become an
addiction.
Most of us are familiar with the more extreme examples of religious addiction – the
suicide bomber, the overzealous televangelist, the atrocities of the Crusades. And yet
what many of us do not realize is that a debilitating attachment to religion has subtly
infiltrated most of our lives; tempting us to pray more than we pro-act, and to mentally or
verbally condemn others more than we actively Care for them.
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